For one of New Zealand's top motocross riders, duty calls and it's taking her back to the United States, a country deep in its own coronavirus crisis.

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Despite America being in turmoil with the Covid-19 outbreak, Rachel Archer is required to head to Georgia as her season reboots.
Source: 1 NEWS

After a breakout first season in the prestigious Grand National Cross Country Series, Rachael Archer has picked up where she left off.

She steered herself to fourth place in the standings after three rounds before the Covid-19 crisis sent the 18-year-old back to the King Country from South Carolina.

Archer has benefitted from living rural with the ideal environment to stay competition ready.

"I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I've got lots of hills and farmland to train on," Archer said.

Archer was only given eight days to return to America for the resumption of the competition and within a day, flights were booked for a departure next Tuesday.

The series will be conducted with social distancing guidelines in place but there aren't the same strict quarantine protocols on arrival, with the USA taking a different approach to tackling the pandemic.

Archer admits the thought of returning to the USA is daunting but it is a risk she needs to take.

"I'm a little bit nervous but it's my job and my livelihood. I'll just do what I can to stay safe and healthy."

It will be an early return to action for Archer but with the prospect of a top three finish this season will make the trip worth it.

"(I) definitely know I can do it. I'm probably the underdog as I'm quite new, the top three girls have been racing in the series for six or seven years now so I'm doing ok."